Land of song say the Warrior Bards
Though all the world betrays thee.
One sword, at least, Thy Rights Shall Guard,
And one faithful harp shall praise Thee.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Wednesday Random Ten

This one's coming off early, because I am going to be on the road tomorrow morning. Vegas beckons and I must obey. I am driving rather than flying because of the number of instruments I am taking. Phoenix to Vegas is actually a pretty scenic drive. For shows where flying is called for I always, I repeat, ALWAYS, send my instruments ahead FedEx. I have had too many instances in my career of the airlines damaging, or just screwing up the routing on the tools of my trade. It has gotten to the point where some airlines, like Delta, won't even pretend to accomodate a musician. The Musician's Union has called for a boycott of Delta because of their refusing to gate check instruments. I have, especially with my harps, bought seats for my instruments. When a flight is not all that crowded they often would give me a half price seat. Which, during my drinking days, allowed me to have some fun skirting the two drink limit on flights. It would go like this:

Flight Attendant: Would you care for a cocktail?

Me: I'll have a double Bourbon, neat, and my friend here will have the same.

Flight Attendant: But, but, but

Me: See? This label here? This fine instrument was crafted in 1878, way over 21.She does love her bourbon.

Most of the time it worked. It also set up a few instances of in flight recitals that lead to post-flight assignations.

But, I'm digress, again. Let's see where was I? Yeah, boycott Delta. If you really, truly need your stuff to get there undamaged. FedEx my friends. I initially chose them because they were the first ones to offer pressurized cargo handling. Again, the harps are the ones that absolutely require that. Especially the one with the brass strings. The tension on the sound board and the neck is vicious. In an unpressurized or other situation where care is not taken with handling, it could literally disintegrate.

"So, here's a sampling of the music line up for the drive...She Belongs To Me - - Bob Dylan (live at the Bitter End '66)"

Jeff Wells over at is also quite the Dylan fan. A sample of the "lead-in" to one of his essays:

"Have you heard the news?" he said, with a grin. "The Vice-President's gone mad.""Where?" "Downtown." "When?" "Last night." "Hmm, say, that's too bad.""Well, there's nothin' we can do about it," said the neighbor."It's just somethin' we're gonna have to forget.""Yes, I guess so," said Ma. Then she asked me if the clothes was still wet. - Bob Dylan"

If you decide to enter Wells' blog and/or his Discussion Board, open the door gently.